Cross-Sections Classes of Structural Steel Members

• Main Author: Daniela Preda
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Jassy 2007-01-01
• Series: Bulletin of the Polytechnic Institute of Jassy: Constructions, Architechture Section
• Subjects: -
• Online Access: http://www.ce.tuiasi.ro/~bipcons/Archive/83.pdf

Cross-sectional classification, introduced in EUROCODE 3, is destined to comply with any type of cross-section, disregarding the slenderness of cross-sectional wall plates. From practical reasons, this classification refers to cross-sections considered as a general matter. But in the same cross-section, the plates loaded with compression stresses, thus exposed to local buckling can belong to different classes of sections depending upon the loads acting on that cross-section. Furthermore, the stress diagrams corresponding to these cross-sectional plates are themselves closely related to applied loads and they influence directly the degrees of sensitivity to local buckling. On the other hand, the different degrees of sensitivity to local buckling depend on the slenderness of cross-sectional plates. A cross-section is normally classified by quoting the highest (least favourable) class of its compression elements. The strength calculation (and general stability) of structural members depends on the cross-section classes.